A deal involving the Suns is no doubt on the cards in the not to distant future.

Word has it Detroit, Boston,LA, Chicago and Washington have inquired about Marion.

Kevin Garnett considers Phoenix the only team he would want to be traded to..citing warm weather and championship contendership his main interests.

The Suns are working out draft prospects that are projected to be drafted considerably higher than the picks they currently have.

Grant Hill wants to sign up.

And to add to the chaos Kobe has also said he would condone a move to phoenix.

The Suns have plenty of bargaining chips and who turns up to training camp this year could be anyones guess.

What will GM Steve do?

What ive heard through the grapevine.

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Expanded Timberwolves trade rumor: Kevin Garnett to the Phoenix Suns as part of a three-way deal with the Boston Celtics that would bring the Wolves 6-9 Kurt Thomas from Phoenix and 6-10 Theo Ratliff from Boston, both of whom have contracts that expire after next season. The Suns would send forward Shawn Marion to the Celtics, who would send guard Sebastian Telfair to the Wolves.

The Wolves would get the Celtics' No. 5 overall pick and the Suns' No. 24 overall pick in next week's NBA draft, and keep their No. 7 overall pick. In addition, the second-round conditional pick they owe Boston in the Ricky Davis-Wally Szczerbiak deal would be eliminated.

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So where does Marion end up? The Lakers make the most sense. In return for Marion, Phoenix could pry away 19-year-old center Andrew Bynum, whom several scouts have told me is a star in the making. The Suns would be forced to take on a few of the Laker's bad contracts (such as, say, Kwame Brown and Vladimir Radmanovic) to make the deal work, but the possibility of repairing a fractured locker room could be too much for Phoenix to pass up.

Such a deal would also free the Suns to shift Stoudemire to his more natural power forward position. Stoudemire would embrace the move, and Bynum's confidence would grow exponentially once he realizes he can score 10 points per game just hanging out around the rim in Nash's line of sight. For frontcourt insurance, Phoenix could sign small forward Grant Hill, who wouldn't command more than the mid-level exception and is starved to play for a contending team.

There are other options, however. Ainge coached Marion briefly in 1999, and Boston has the young talent (Green, Kendrick Perkins), a big expiring contract (Ratliff) and the coveted fifth pick, which the Suns would almost assuredly use on Joakim Noah or Yi Jianlian, two bigs who love to run the floor.

Chicago's collection of young talent (as well as its ninth overall pick) would also be appealing to Phoenix. Minnesota is more of a longshot, though it should be noted that the Phoenix coaching staff is infatuated with Garnett and the possibility of him controlling the backboards and finishing fast breaks for the next two or three years.

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And Garnett, sources say, wants to move to a warm-weather city and a team that can claim legitimate championship potential.

All of which should help explain why the Suns are No. 1 on his list.

Another big factor: Garnett and Suns guard Steve Nash, sources say, have become good friends over the past few years, starting in 2005 when Garnett was one of the first players in the league to call Nash and congratulate him on his first MVP trophy.

The Wolves and Suns have also discussed a Garnett trade. The Wolves, though, naturally want to trade Garnett out of their conference if they can.

If it has to deal with the Suns -- given the strong possibility Garnett won't sanction a move elsewhere -- Minnesota is expected to demand that Phoenix part with Amare Stoudemire in the exchange, as well as a first-round pick from Atlanta in the 2008 draft that is fully unprotected.

It's considered unlikely that a Suns package built around Shawn Marion and that draft pick would be enough to pry Garnett away. Complicating matters further, Marion also has the right to become a free agent after the 2007-08 season and has also let it be known that he doesn't want to play in Minnesota or Boston, sources say. That stance quickly killed the possibility of a three-way deal involving Minnesota, Phoenix and Boston.

The Suns, meanwhile, are understandably hesitant to part with Stoudemire and have tried unsuccessfully to strike a deal without giving him up. Even though Garnett would certainly help Phoenix in the short term by supplying an instant boost of veteran savvy, while also likely improving team chemistry and addressing their biggest weakness -- matching up with San Antonio's Tim Duncan -- Stoudemire is only 24 and would appear to have limitless potential after making the most high-flying comeback from microfracture knee surgery that the league has ever seen.